Hello! And welcome to the third thing I've programmed while at Retrospec. It's
also the last thing because I'm fed up to the back teeth with making remakes,
and I really hope that attitude shines through in every aspect of this remake
of Wizball. ;)
Although Wizball is primarily a single player game, you can also start a two
player game which remaps all of Catellite's controls to separate keys so that a
loved-one can control them while you get on with the meat of the gameplay,
occasionally pausing to scream at them for not picking up that extra-life
droplet that a paintball left behind.
This game is completely based on the Commodore 64 version of the game.
Originally I was planning on supporting a switch to allow you to play both the
C64 and Spectrum versions of the game, but this was dropped because there's such
a difference in terms of map data that I couldn't be arsed. Also, as much as I
love the ZX Spectrum, the C64 version of Wizball utterly trounces the Spectrum
version in terms of features and gameplay. For a start it's not bugged to
buggery and back.
Although this is based on the C64 version there are some subtle differences in
terms of enemy behaviour and the basic metrics of the game, but hopefully it's
pretty spot-on. Oh, but I added a button to choose bonuses in addition to the
usual joystick-waggle method because a bunch of puss- sorry, beta testers, asked
for it.
Unlike the home-computer versions the enemies won't spawn in odd places so much,
and there's also no limit on the number of enemies on screen so you have to do
less sweeping back and forth to hunt for the last few on each level. There is a
choke limit on the total number of bullets on-screen at one time, however, as
without it things get stupidly hairy later on.
Here's the original instructions from the Spectrum version for your edification:
For many years, Wiz and his magical cat lived happily in brightly
coloured Wizworld. All was not well however as a malevolent force
had discovered the vista and intended to stamp out brilliance
once and for all. The evil Zark and his horrible sprites have
moved in to eliminate the spectrum and render all landscpes drab
and grey. So jump in your transporter and with the help of your
faithful servant Catelite, restore Wizworld to its former glory.
The landscapes in Wizworld are comprised of three colours each.
Your task is to restore the original colours by shooting the Red,
Green and Blue colour bubbles and then using Cat to collect the
droplets of colour as they fall to the ground. Droplets collected
will be stored in the cauldron displayed at the bottom of the
screen, until such time as you have enough of each colour to make
the target colour displayed in the cauldron on the far bottom
right of the screen.
In the three levels which have aliens on: one has red, one has
green and one has blue. It is therefore necessary to move between
the three levels using the tunnels to collect all three colours.
To complete a level, you must colour in the whole landscape.
After each colour is collected there is a bonus stage. After
this, Wiz enters Wiz-Lab and is given a Wiz-Perk by his guardian
angel. You may select one weapon or control, which will be
magically endowed up on all subsequent Wizballs from birth, or
opt for the bonus of 1000 points x Wiz-Level number.
When certain aliens are killed they will deposit a green pearl
which will remain stationary on the screen. If Wizball passes
over this pearl and picks it up the first icon on the top of the
screen will glow; this indicates that Wiz has the option to
select a feature representated on the icon. If you want to select
another feature collect more pearls until the icon you want is
glowing. Several icons have two possible functions. The icons
are, from left to right:
1) Thrust - Gives Wiz more control over the Wizball and
allows him to move it left or right.
Antigrav - Gives Wiz total control over the Wizball and
stops the bouncing.
2) Beam - Gives Wiz supa-beam weapon.
Double - Gives Wiz and cat automatic two-directional
firepower.
3) Catellite - Gives Wiz a cat fresh from training college.
4) Blazers - Gives Wiz and Cat super rapid fire blazers.
5) Wiz Spray - Gives Wiz mega spray protection.
Cat Spray - Does the same for Cat (but Wiz and Cat cannot
have spray at the same time).
6) Smart Bomb - Kills every sprite in sight.
7) Shields - Gives Wiz and Cat shields for a limited period
only.
It's worth noting that despite these purporting to be the Spectrum instructions,
the Spectrum version of the game doesn't even have the bonus stage of which it
speaks. Tsk! Also, the "1000 points x Wiz-Level number" figure actually works
out to (10000 - (1000 x level number)) points. i.e. 9000 points on the first
world, 8000 points on the second world, 7000 on the third, and so on.
The instructions also neglect to point out that the Double weapon is utter crap
and should be avoided at all costs.
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